


Holiday Surprises

by afinemess



Category: The Nanny
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28267911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinemess/pseuds/afinemess
Summary: The week before Christmas brings surprises for Niles and CC.
Relationships: C.C. Babcock & Niles (The Nanny), C.C. Babcock/Niles (The Nanny)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Holiday Surprises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kate811](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate811/gifts).



CC hurried into the foyer, shaking the snowflakes off her cashmere wool coat and pulling off her scarf. Where was the useless butler? With a sigh, she hung up her coat and scarf in the front closet. 

It was probably a blessing that Niles was nowhere to be found, CC thought. She had entirely too much work to do considering it was a week before Christmas. A Christmas benefit whose proceeds went to various charities around the city? Ridiculous. Only the promise of good press kept CC going. 

As the hours passed, though, CC grew curious. She’d never gone this long in the mansion without Niles pestering her. She tucked the performers’ contracts safely in a manila folder and left the office in search of her nemesis. 

She found him in the kitchen, disconsolately stirring something in a bowl. 

“Niles, tea,” CC said, since she very well couldn’t ask him what was wrong or where he’d been. 

The butler wordlessly reached behind him and turned on the stove to heat up the kettle. “It will be ready shortly,” he told her. 

They stood in an awkward silence. She was about to ask him something, anything to break the quiet, when Nanny Fine bounced into the kitchen. 

“Hi, Miss Babcock,” she greeted, peering interestedly over Niles’s shoulder. Maybe the nanny would ask him what was wrong so CC wouldn’t have to. 

“Hello, Nanny Fine,” she replied. 

Niles grabbed two mugs from the cabinet, placed a tea bag in each, and poured boiling water over them. Then he pushed one towards Fran and the other, CC. 

“Thanks, Niles,” Fran said brightly. “Miss Babcock, are you ready for Christmas?” 

“Ready for it to be over,” CC replied honestly. 

“I still have a few more presents to buy,” Fran said, clearly not listening to CC’s response. 

“Ooh!” CC blurted out. Both adults glanced at her. “I haven’t bought any presents!” 

For the first time, a ghost of a smile graced Niles’s face but he didn’t say anything. 

“Miss Babcock, you need to get your shopping done!” Fran told her, eyes wide. She spooned a heap of sugar into her mug. “All the good gifts’ll be taken. Plus you’ll need time to wrap them.”

CC groaned. “I hate wrapping presents.” 

“You should really get it done soon,” Fran advised. She cupped her mug in both hands and left the kitchen. 

“I should think you wouldn’t mind wrapping gifts,” Niles said to her, pulling a baking sheet out from a low cupboard. “Being a perfectionist and all.”

CC shook her head, his earlier mood forgotten with this new task. “I’m too impatient. And I can never get them to look ok.” She bit her lip. “I should go shopping today. I’ll need to mail Noel’s gift to him if I want it there in time.” 

“And just like that, the Grinch’s heart doubled in size.”

She ignored the jab and looked at him speculatively. “Do you wrap all of the gifts under the Sheffield’s tree?”

Niles looked at her warily. “Yes...why?”

“Will you wrap the gifts I buy?”

“Do it yourself.”

“I’m planning this stupid benefit. I don’t have time.”

“And I do?”

“You’ve been stirring a bowl for the past 10 minutes, Niles. You don’t exactly look overwhelmed.” 

He glared at her. 

“I’ll pay you,” CC told him. 

His eyes brightened. “How much?” 

\- - -

At 8pm sharp, Niles knocked on her penthouse door. She padded over to the door, her socked feet silent on the wood floor, and opened it. Niles stepped over the threshold and glanced at her casual attire: soft gray lounge pants and a long-sleeved white cotton tee. 

“You look...cozy,” he remarked. 

“You look cold,” she replied, gesturing to the snow on his shoulders. 

“There wasn’t much parking around your building,” he explained. He toed off his wet shoes and took off his coat, hanging it up in the closet. “Did you finish your shopping?”

CC nodded. “The stores were so crowded. It was awful.”

“Babcock had to mingle with the peasants of Manhattan. How unfortunate.”

“It was. I pay good money to not have to encounter other people.” 

“I guess the holiday spirit can only go so far,” he remarked. “Did you get wrapping paper and tape?”

She nodded again, gesturing to the tubes of brightly colored paper stacked on her dining room table. 

Niles paused. “Miss Babcock...why did you get so much?”

“I wanted to make sure I got enough.”

Niles counted. “There are 20 rolls here.”

“Is that enough?” she asked worriedly. There was such earnestness in her face that he laughed. 

“Yes, there’s enough, foolish woman.” There was no malice in his reply, though. Something a little more like affection. But CC, unaccustomed to hearing it from him, didn’t notice. 

“Well, good luck, then,” CC said, turning to walk away. 

“Oh, no you don’t,” Niles said, hooking his arm in her elbow and walking her over to the dining room. “I’m going to teach you how to properly wrap a present, and you’re going to keep me company.” 

“Why do I need to learn when I can just pay you to do it for me?” 

“Builds character,” Niles replied. He sat down at the head of the table and said, in a very kindergarten-teacher voice, “So the first thing we need to do is—”

“I need a drink,” CC interrupted. She stalked over to her wet bar, grabbed two glasses, and tossed a few ice cubes into each. With a glance over at Niles, she seemed to arrive at a conclusion and grabbed the entire bottle of bourbon. She poured them each two fingers after she sat down. 

“As I was saying,” Niles continued, though in a more normal tone, “you need to figure out how much paper you’ll need. Most people overestimate and that’s why it ends up sloppy.” 

CC sipped her bourbon, feigning disinterest. In reality, though, he was quite fetching in his navy blue sweater and she’d never denied how pleasant his voice was. There were worse ways to pass an evening. 

After Niles demonstrated how to wrap a few different boxes, and after he asked prying questions about the intended recipients, he pushed a rectangular box towards her. She’d just finished her bourbon and raised her eyebrows. 

“Your turn,” he explained, sipping his own drink.

“Ohh, no, no,” she replied, pushing the box right back to him. “I’m paying you to do this for me.”

“Things you say to your dates!” Niles guessed with a grin. 

CC nearly had trouble hiding her own. “Funny. And no, I’m not doing this.”

“Things your dates say to you!”

This time, she couldn’t help it. She laughed. Niles paused, shocked. Had she ever done that before? And why did he so badly want her to do it again? 

She saw the questions swirling in his horribly curious brain, so she reached forward and brought the box back to her. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Things—”

“Shut up, Niles.” 

Ten minutes later, with her teeth worrying her lower lip, CC carefully set the final piece of tape on the paper. She sat up, triumphant. 

Niles stared at the box in front of him. It certainly was wrapped, he couldn’t deny that. “I blame myself. I’ve clearly failed as a teacher.” 

“It looks fine!” she objected. 

Niles grabbed a similarly shaped box that he’d wrapped and set it next to hers. “Does it?” 

“Yes!”

“CC. What did I say the most important thing was?” 

She poured them each another drink to buy some time. He’d called her CC. Had he ever done that before? And why did she so badly want him to again? 

He must have misunderstood the expression on her face, for he carefully untaped the paper and began to wrap it himself. “It’s ok. You can just watch.”

She glanced over at him. “Things the other two say to you during a threesome.” 

Niles laughed and nodded, lifting his glass in a cheers. “Well done.” 

She smiled happily and took another sip. She watched him rewrap it deftly before moving on to another one. As she filled in the gift tag and stuck it on the box, CC asked, “Why were you in a bad mood earlier?” 

Niles slid the scissors through the wrapping paper and then centered the next box on it. “Oh. Well, ah, I’d just found out that I can’t go visit my parents in England for Christmas this year.” 

“Why not?” she asked. 

He carefully avoided her eye as he responded, “I can’t afford it.” 

“What about your Christmas bonus?” CC wondered. 

He looked at her askance. “Any more personal questions while we’re at it?” 

Her cheeks colored and she leaned back in her chair. Sometimes it was easy—too easy—to forget that she didn’t actually have the type of relationship with the butler which would allow these types of conversations. 

Niles seemed to regret his response, though. He cleared his throat and continued talking as he wrapped the gift. “I had some unforeseen expenses this year and the cost of flights have gone up. I haven’t seen them in a year, and they aren’t getting any younger. I just...sometimes wish I lived closer to them.” Or that I had more money, he thought as he sat in an heiress’s penthouse. 

“Well, that sucks,” she said bluntly. 

Despite the glum reminder of his own financial crisis, Niles laughed. “Yes, it does.”

CC gave him a small smile. “Sorry, that’s the extent of my ability to be encouraging.” 

He pushed the gift toward her and reached for another box. As she wrote on the label, he asked, “So which one of these is for me?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Are we exchanging gifts this year?” 

“It isn’t as though I can buy you a gift,” he replied honestly. And although it wasn’t funny, something about the entire situation seemed to be, and Niles and CC broke into laughter at the same time. 

Once their laughter subsided, CC said, “I could always give you some extra wrapping paper,” which sent them into peals of laughter again. 

\- - -

The evening ended with a half-empty bottle of bourbon, an enormous pile of wrapped presents, and 14 rolls of wrapping paper left (a fact which set them laughing again). Still, Niles had wrapped the last few presents slowly and CC had to admit that she didn’t want the evening to end, either. There was something to be said for being away from the Sheffield residence. 

“You should put up some Christmas decorations,” Niles said, finally standing up. It was nearing 11pm, after all, and he had to get up early the following morning. 

“I have some,” CC objected, pointing at Chester, curled up on the couch in a festive sweater. 

“That hardly counts,” Niles replied, stepping into his shoes. CC brought his coat out from the closet and handed it to him. “What service. I could get used to this.”

She rolled her eyes and watched as he buttoned his coat. “I’ll bring your check tomorrow,” she told him, gesturing to the pile of presents on and near the dining room table. 

“Nah. This one’s on me,” he told her with a wink. 

She smiled and blushed, his words of course recalling one of the more pleasant nights they’d spent together. 

“See you tomorrow, Babcock,” Niles said. 

She was struck by the sudden urge to embrace him (later, she’d blame the alcohol), to thank him, to ask him to stay a little longer, but then it was too late, the door was opened, he’d stepped through it, and he was gone. 

\- - -

CC entered the mansion late the next morning, knowing she was cutting it very fine before their phone conference with the theater owner. She blew into the office, draping her coat over the arm of the green sofa, and saw Niles loading up the tea tray. 

“Running a little behind today?” Maxwell asked. 

CC bit back her irritation—how often was Nanny Fine late?—and apologized, pulling documents out of her bag. 

“Coffee?” Niles asked politely. 

“No,” CC replied distractedly, now sorting through the papers in her lap. Maxwell turned on the speakerphone and began dialing. 

The meeting passed smoothly and any trace of Maxwell’s annoyance with her had passed. They spoke for a few moments about the upcoming benefit before CC took a breath. 

“Maxwell, I’d like to speak to you about something,” she said. 

Minutes later, CC entered the kitchen and saw Niles still cleaning up after breakfast. 

“Did you change your mind about coffee?” Niles asked, drying his hands on a dish towel. 

“No, I came to give you this,” she replied, handing him a blank white envelope. 

“Babcock, I told you, you don’t have to pay me.”

CC bit back a retort—something about what a woman would never say to him—and said, “Just take it.” 

Niles sighed and took the envelope, sliding it inside his suit jacket. 

CC stood uncertainly for a moment before blurting out, “Open it.”

He looked at her in surprise. “That isn’t very polite.”

“The man who once poured syrup on my head is suddenly concerned with politeness.” 

“You smelled delicious, though,” he pointed out. 

“I got stung by a bee!” 

Niles laughed and CC closed her eyes in frustration. 

“Just open it, would you?” 

Now curious, he pulled the envelope out and opened it. Expecting to see a check, he was somewhat bemused to find a small stack of papers inside. He looked up at CC, further confused to see her suppressing a smile. 

“What’s this?” he asked. 

“Read it.” 

His eyes skimmed the paper, seeing JFK and LHR, but his brain refused to put it all together. “Is this—?”

“Maxwell’s agreed to give you the week off.”

“But—”

“That’s why I was late this morning.”

“I don’t understand...”

“You’d better figure it out quickly, Niles. You need to get packed.” 

“You bought me a plane ticket?”

She smiled. “You’ll be in London by this evening.”

Shocked, Niles stared at the boarding pass in his hands. Then he saw the time for takeoff—a mere 3 hours from now—and nearly panicked. What to do first? Pack? Call his parents? What would the Sheffields do without him for a week? 

His mind going a mile a minute, Niles turned and began walking toward the back staircase before he spun around. He saw the crestfallen look on CC’s face change to one of uncertainty as he hurried towards her. He embraced her tightly, like he’d wanted to do the previous evening, and felt entirely overcome. 

“Thank you,” he said quietly in her ear. He smiled when he felt her squeeze him tightly in return. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, Niles cupped her face in one hand and pressed his lips to her cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Niles,” she told him quietly. 

“Merry Christmas, CC.”


End file.
